


Setback

by wickedorin



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: AU, Androids, Angst, Clones, Gen, M/M, vague suggestions of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 21:26:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedorin/pseuds/wickedorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written as a fill for a drabble request on AwaitingMassProduction: "Argente->Kurou; equal parts dark and sexual; Argente keeps his lusts carefully hidden, lest he shatter the peaceful lives he and Kurou have built."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Setback

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for assault, potential for abuse, vague discussion of past abuse, language. …Android nudity.

While Kurou didn’t actually _need_ to change his clothes, it still seemed polite to do so. He was aware that there was some stigma against wearing the same thing daily; even his origin had several different versions of the same clothes to change into. It was normal for him to change quickly while Argente was showering in the evenings so that he wouldn’t be “in the way” on any level, routine.  
  
Quite unlike how Argente emerged only one minute and 43 seconds after he’d closed and locked the bathroom door, wearing only a towel. He stopped short, staring as the android rendered quite recently naked. “K-Kurou…”  
  
And while it was unusual, it didn’t seem to be anything too terribly uncomfortable. At least, he hoped as much. “My apologies. I was not expecting you to emerge quite so soon. I can make use of the bathroom currently if you would prefer. Or simply dress here.” It was the fact that there was no answer at all which concerned him. Turning to look directly seemed slightly inappropriate, so he simply questioned, “Argente?”  
  
Still nothing. No movement, barely the sound of breathing.  
  
"Argente, what—" There wasn’t time to voice any one of his suddenly many questions before the telltale flutter was at the edge of his peripheral vision, that flash of blue-then-orange fluctuating glow that signaled Argente’s unstable Hundred Power. Kurou was pinned before he’d had the chance to react, chest and wrists pressed painfully against the wall just outside of the short hall leading to the bathroom and laundry room. It was the _suddenness_ of the act that had his processors whirring to catch up, but even after they had done so, he remained still. Quiet.  
  
"K-Kurou." That voice was strained. It didn’t hold the distance of so long ago, when they were both still being held at the Ouroboros complex, but there was still something similar about the tone. Something… unstable. "You really shouldn’t…"  
  
After approximately 17 seconds of waiting for the words to continue, the android finally asked directly, “Should not what, precisely?” It was _uncomfortable_ to be held as he was; a normal human most certainly would have acquired bruises, have some trouble breathing. It didn’t escape him that the clone was most definitely _controlling_ his powers to a point…  
  
"Is it on purpose?" Argente demanded, voice harsher. "Do you do this to me _on purpose_?”  
  
"I do not know what you are referring to." It was easy for Kurou to keep his voice calm. His processors were easier to read, nearly buzzing as he accessed data, logs, trying to zero in on exactly what might be happening. Such actions just didn’t quite seem like _Argente_ , not since he’d taken on that second chance.  
  
” _This_.” The clone hissed, squeezing the android’s wrists; and he could feel a very human flinch of pain. “I noticed. I _noticed_ you were always dressed differently when I came out of the shower. And you’re _you_ so you probably changed around the laundry room to be more _efficient_. Near me. Right _next_ to me.”  
  
"You are correct in that assumption." There was still calm on the outside, though that increasing pressure was getting very hard to stand. He didn’t want to disable his tactile sensation in case he very much did need to fight back, not wishing to hurt the man, though the situation seemed to be getting more dire. "You have still not explained your reason for this action."  
  
"I’m hurting you, right?" Argente acted as though he hadn’t even heard the question, pressing closely in order to assure that even through the towel, the state of his cock was clear. "I’m not sorry. That makes me a terrible person, doesn’t it?" He couldn’t help but notice the silence that met him, the way the android wasn’t looking at him. " _Doesn’t it_?”  
  
"Ignoring all attempts at explaining yourself makes you a remarkably obtuse person." The android ever so slightly abandoned any notion of approaching the subject carefully.  
  
It was noticed. “Do you _know_ , do you have _any idea_ how hard it’s been for me, Kurou? Just trying to… live a ‘normal life’? Not making use of what you take for granted? Do you _know_ how long I’ve been waiting for you to invite me to touch you?!” And there it was, yelled loudly enough to ring through the apartment.  
  
The sound of Kurou’s processors almost stuttered to a stop before buzzing to life again. The only thing he could manage to do was default to complete honesty. “You did not make me aware of such.”  
  
"How could I?" Argente’s voice fell just short of yelling. "How the _fuck_ could I? And why aren’t you fighting back?”  
  
It wasn’t that the android’s own voice changed, really; the volume was still the same, the tone technically still calm, “conversational”. There was something _sharper_ about it, however, more precise. “I will do so if and when I deem it necessary. Explain yourself.”  
  
The clone just pushed harder with his power, certain that the wall would give long before the android’s body would. “You sound like someone who _isn’t_ pinned against a wall.”  
  
Perhaps it was simply taking hold of that saying about fighting fire with yet more fire. Illogical, and yet logic seemed to be playing no part at that moment. “It would seem that you have forgotten I am consistently armed.”  
  
Argente _squeezed_ those wrists, feeling another flinch and an odd sound that wasn’t quite pain; but it wasn’t the _absence_ of pain, either. “You haven’t reminded me yet, Kurou.”  
  
There was only so much that he understood about the human mind; and less about the clone’s. The term “relapse” was coming up somewhat consistently across his database, however. “I had never considered the need to do so until alarmingly recently. I had thought that you had become a great deal better about conversation and consent.”  
  
” _Consent_.” Argente spat. “I know what I’m doing and I’m a _monster_ for it, aren’t I?”  
  
Back to that word, “monster”. A great many people directly involved in their projects and many outside had used the word to describe both of them—and H-Koning. It was a trigger word that Kurou wasn’t going to let divert him from the matter at hand, from the conversation rather than the action. Already he felt Argente’s grip wavering slightly, far from relaxing but certainly less crushing than it had been. “You should have asked.”  
  
"What the _fu_ —” So much for his grasp easing; if the android’s structure not been metal, had his joints not been so solid, his wrists would have snapped with the way the clone bent them suddenly. As it was, Kurou only flinched again with bruising pain against the skin, experiencing nothing past tactile sensation. “Are you telling me that I could have just _asked_ you for this? Really? And you would have _agreed_?”  
  
"I cannot say that I would have agreed or not." He answered honestly, remaining completely still. "But you should have asked."  
  
"God _dammit_ , Kurou!” Argente’s voice cracked. “What aren’t you fighting back?”  
  
In one sense, he honestly didn’t know. In another, he supposed the response was obvious. “I am attempting to seek answers. And you have not done anything yet that would require retaliation.”  
  
"You…" The clone was silent for a long while, grasp on the android’s wrists wavering slightly again. "You _idiot_. You _want_ me to do something, then?! The least you could do is hate me. _Hate_ me!”  
  
The logic of the situation had been unfathomable from the very beginning, but at that point Kurou simply had no ability to fathom a single one of the thoughts that might be occurring in Argente’s head. “Why would you want such a thing?”  
  
"Because at least then you’ll feel _something_ for me.” There was a clear sob with the last word. Argente’s power flickered, then faded out completely; Kurou turned just in time to catch the clone before he collapsed completely, lowering them both to the floor.  
  
Argente covered his face with his hands, only the sound of heavy breathing coming through his fingers. It was clear from the moisture that he was crying as silently as he could manage, several minutes passing before he’d regained himself enough to speak. “I’ve ruined everything.”  
  
The android’s words weren’t selected to be comforting; merely truthful. “You have not.”  
  
"Yeah? Right." Argente tried to wipe his eyes with the backs of his hands, face turned away; he didn’t seem aware that he was still being physically supported, however, body still slightly limp. "You’re just gonna forgive me for ruining everything between us and destroying my second chance."  
  
"I do not forgive you, that much is true." He quite easily felt the wince those words caused. "But you did not ruin things between the two of us, and you did not destroy your second chance. This is a— Setback. Not necessarily a minor one, granted. I thought that you have been honest with me, but you were not."  
  
The clone made a quiet, furious sound. “How… how _could_ I be?!”  
  
"I do not suppose that I can answer that question effectively." Kurou responded, still merely being honest. "Though perhaps if you had spoken to me, the matter would not have come to this point."  
  
The anger seemed to drop straight out of Argente at those words, covering his face again. “It’s too late. I’ve _ruined_ everything…”  
  
"I have already told you that you have not." The android reminded patiently.  
  
There wasn’t any strength left in him to push Kurou away, and certainly not to sit up on his own. He very nearly _clawed_ at his own face until the android stunningly gently pried his hands away. “How can you say that?”  
  
The answer was simplicity almost in defiance of logic. “You did not go through with an assault.”  
  
That was when Argente seemed to realize just how far from anything like “logic” or “common sense” he’d wandered. How far away from that second chance life he wanted to earn for himself. “You… idiot.”  
  
"Perhaps." The android allowed. "A bit."  
  
"Idiot."  
  
Kurou clearly wasn’t going to argue. “I will require conversation on this matter. Elaboration on the points that you have made. I will insist upon it.”  
  
Swallowing thickly, Argente just nodded for a moment. “I… when?”  
  
The android tilted his head, response perfectly obvious. “After we are both dressed.”  
  
Argente’s laugh was manic, uncomfortable, unnatural… but at least it wasn’t sobbing. “I guess… yeah.”


End file.
